Information Technology (IT) administrators may spend a substantial amount of time managing software applications. Managing software applications may include resolving application conflicts, repairing damaged applications, migrating to new versions of applications, installing applications, and patching applications. These tasks may be frustrating and time consuming.
Application virtualization technologies may simplify many IT administration tasks. For example, application virtualization may allow an administrator to turn on or off a user's access to applications and data, which may reduce the time it takes to provide users with the resources they need. Application virtualization may also allow an administrator to reset broken applications to a known-good state without fear of damaging other applications. Application virtualization may ensure that each virtualized application has its own copy of DLL files that it would normally share with other applications. This eliminates conflicts that occur when two or more applications may require different versions of the same DLL, thereby rescuing administrators from a condition commonly referred to as “DLL hell.”
Application virtualization may allow different versions of the same application to peacefully coexist. Among other things, this means that an administrator may keep older versions intact and available while testing new versions. Even after migrating to a new version, an administrator may quickly rollback to the previous version at any time. Another advantage of some traditional virtualization technologies is the ability to deactivate a virtualization layer to conserve system resources. Unfortunately, managing multiple virtualization layers may be cumbersome. For example, a user may not remember to deactivate a virtualization layer or may not have time to deactivate a virtualization layer that is not in use. Furthermore, it may be time consuming for a user to activate a virtualization layer each time the user needs to access a program installed in the virtualization layer.